A classic scene that terrified audiences back in the day was that moment in Halloween where an out-of focus Michael Myers (“The Shape”) sits up behind the traumatized Jamie Lee Curtis. “Behind you! BEHIND YOU!” The audience screamed. The audience knowing something threatening that the character doesn't see plays ...

Once you see it, don’t turn back. The seals of yours approval is bleeding through your isolation.
Once you hear it, don’t turn off. The bells of yours improval is screaming through your insulation.
Once you feel it, don’t turn numb. The strokes of yours instinctual is ...

There's a specific type of movie “trick” where we'll see something that seems as though it's really happening. I mean, it seems like it's “really happening” within the movie.

For instance, it'll be some kind of elaborate action sequence, or horror sequence, or whatever, but ...

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Today we're chatting about characters who're mainly based on tropes VS those that grow. You see this difference quite clearly in a lot of British comedy VS American comedy where characters are set up in ...

The debate on what constitutes a “strong female character”, whether having “strong female leads” or “feminism” is tanking “woke” films these past few years, is ongoing. There's accusations of toxicity on both sides. Misogyny, misandry, wokeness and brokeness, all of these terms and hot takes are fired and take ...

The idea of “sin” is a prevalent one in horror stories. In terrifying tales, the monstrous against the human also explores good vs. evil.

There is often a “sin” perpetrated by horror Protagonists. The classic Psycho begins with Marion Crane stealing money from her job. Her intentions are understandable, maybe ...

Probing these mists for a console ancient
Caught in its patience I unsealed the gate
Prying those depths for a future latent
Omens so blatant I entered the gate
Pending the screams for a horror dormant
Leaving from torment I buried that gate


NaaN (Now, always and Never)

So for us Orthodox Christians it's Good Friday today and it'll be Resurrection Day (Good Saturday) by the time you're reading this. In the neighborhood where I live, a new (boisterous and with many members) family has moved in, who brought a live rooster a few days ...

my webcomic, Typical Strange, uses many fake films in its video store setting

A few years ago I spotted a book in the second hand store - one I'd read as a kid. I bought it and reread it. It was definitely more suited to the younger me - it was ...

Conflict!

It's the essential building block of drama. You don't have a story without the basics of “someone wants something, and something's in the way of getting it.”

Screenwriting books - books I really love and have given me a lot - will often say that amping up the ...